Online & Offline Selling of "Command & Conquer"

Formed in 1985, Las Vegas-based Westwood Studios has released several popular computer CD-ROM titles including: Dune II, the Lands of Lore series, the Kyrandia adventure trilogy, Monopoly for the Internet, Blade Runner, Games People Play and the Command & Conquer product line.

In all, Westwood Studios has created more than 50 games in its 13-year history, and is regarded as one of the premiere game publishers in the industry. This paper will examine the 1996 sales campaign for Command & Conquer, the premiere game in the series. Unless noted by a specific cite, all data concerning plans, strategies and problems are taken from telephone interviews with Brett Sperry, president of Westwood Studios and Aaron Cohen, marketing director of the company.

Command & Conquer is a real-time action strategy game that is played on a computer using CD-ROM discs. The game lets the player choose which one of two opposing sides he or she wishes to play. The structure of the game is that in the near future, the world has become divided into two opposing forces, the Global Defense Initiative and the Brotherhood of NOD.

NOD forces, led by the evil KANE wants to control the world, and GDI want to defeat NOD. Because the specifications of the game (the required computer configuration) is essential to the understanding of the marketing strategy it is essential to clarify this at the beginning. Command

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d by and used by these diverse constituencies. Target Markets Before making the decision of establishing an Internet sales program, it was essential for Westwood Studios to determine its target markets very carefully, a procedure made more difficult because this was the first time the company had: a) spent so much on one product, b) created an action-strategy game instead of a fantasy role-playing game, c) had charged so much for a game, d) created a game that required such complex computer configurations, e) created a game that would be translated into six languages, and f) made it to be sold in European and Asian markets. The company finally identified four target markets: A. The avid game player that will pay any price for games, and will upgrade computers if necessary. B. The yuppie, upscale computer user who has a $3000 to $5000 system. C. The parent who will buy the game for their children D. The techno-nerds who will buy the game to analyze the software in an attempt to modify it. Segmentation The target market research led the company to a new concept in segmentation. Originally, they had assumed that the market segmentation would exist along strictly national lines. The information they had available was: Nation
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2052
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)